The Black Mage: Complete Series

by Rachel E. Carter

  I stumbled along, trying to keep up. “Caltothians?”

  Darren released me and pointed to the same path we had taken from the keep. It was at least fifteen minutes from the fortress.

  I started to walk toward it and then froze. Darren wasn’t following. “Darren,” I whispered loudly, “what are you doing?”

  “I’m going to find out what’s happening.”

  I stared at him. “Are you mad? What am I saying, of course you are! Darren, you can’t. Who knows how many of them there are?”

  “Ryiah, this is not a request. I am ordering you back to the keep. Warn the others.” His garnet eyes flashed. “I’m a prince and you’re my subject. Now is not the time to question me.”

  I ignored him. “Darren, you can’t do this on your own. You need me.”

  “I need you to do what I…” He gave up when he caught my expression. “Fine,” the boy snapped, “but, Ryiah, no heroics. I will not have your blood on my hands.”

  “So kind of you to care.” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm from my reply.

  “I mean it, Ryiah.”

  “Are we going or not?”

  I FOLLOWED DARREN, darting from one tree trunk to the next and peering out into the shrubbery ahead. It was hard to see. The sun was almost completely blocked by the towering pines crowding the sky… but what I did see through narrow shafts of light was alarming.

  Five knights, four men and one woman, were tied and bound in a circle on the ground. Scattered nearby were three bodies with blood pooled around their necks. Their heads were severed, with just a small patch of skin connecting the neck to the body. I recognized one of them as a soldier from the keep’s regular patrol. The young man had occasionally escorted me on my weekly visits with Derrick.

  My chest tightened. Kai. He was my age. He’d once told me he missed his old comrades in Tijan… Now he would never see them again.

  The sun’s next ray revealed a large gathering of men and women in dress I did not recognize. Caltothians. Their clothing blended in with the surroundings—dark brown breeches and long green tunics, covered in thick brown cloaks that hooded their faces.

  One of the first things I noticed was that there was no chainmail or plate armor anywhere on them. That must have helped them catch the keep’s regiment by surprise. Without the rustle of metal rings, the enemy had managed to blend right in with the rest of the forest… until a passing patrol had come across their place of hiding.

  Who knew how many more would’ve been captured had it not been the day of our mock battle? Most of the keep’s regiment had been dismissed to view the affair from the keep’s towers; only a few had been assigned to patrols.

  “I count fifteen, but there might be more out back.” Darren’s voice was barely a whisper.

  The Caltothians seemed to be arguing over what to do with the remaining hostages, although it was hard to know for sure as they were all speaking at once. Only short fragments of speech carried over to where Darren and I hid, crouching.

  At one point, one of the Caltothians strode forward and grabbed a prisoner by the back of his braid. She brandished a knife against the base of his throat and shouted something to the others. Another Caltothian rushed forward to pull her back, but it was too late. The woman dropped her grip and a thick spray of blood spewed from the man’s neck.

  One of the hostages let out a muffled cry.

  My fingernails dug into Darren’s arm so deep he bled. I dropped it immediately. Three soldiers—and now one knight—were dead. I glanced at the prince and saw fury. He shook violently and his fists were white and hard.

  “We’ve got to do something,” he growled. “I can’t just watch them slaughter my people.”

  My throat burned, and I forced myself to whisper. “I can light a fire.” I could see it now. “I could cast one large enough to get the Caltothian to investigate… I know they probably won’t send all of their men, but they might be confident enough to leave only two or three guarding the prisoners since they’re already bound.”

  Darren’s jaw clenched, and for a moment he looked like he was fighting himself. Finally he said, “You need to go far enough that it takes them a while to return. I can handle the ones who stay behind, but I need to know you’ll hide as soon as you’ve got their attention.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ll help the hostages back to the keep, but you need to promise me you’ll stay safe until I can send help.”

  I squinted into the trees. The woman was already pointing to another one of our knights. I needed to go. Now. Before the others found the same fate as the man with the braid. I stood and Darren grabbed my arm.

  “Don’t you dare get caught.” His voice was oddly strained.

  “Why?” The words fell from my lips before I could stop them. “Why would you care?”

  Darren looked away from me. “Just don’t.”

  I SPRINTED THROUGH THE TREES, leaping over jagged granite and forcing my way through thick brush as I raced across the dense forest. I needed to get as far away from the Caltothians—and the Keep—as possible. It was hard to keep track of time as I ran. I needed to put at least ten minutes between us. I wanted to do more, but I was afraid if I spent any more time running, another knight would die.

  I came to a stop in front of a towering pine. Just behind it was a thundering white stream. The river would keep the fire from spreading west, which was where I would seek shelter. The pine’s thick smoke would draw the Caltothians out, and there was no chance the Ferren’s Keep regiment would miss it.

  I placed my palms on the trunk of the tree and set to work projecting my casting. The pine was close to a hundred yards—at least twenty yards taller than the rest of its surroundings. It would take much more power than normal to exert a casting of this range, but I hadn’t used my magic once that morning. I had a full reserve to draw from. And pine burned fast.

  In five minutes, I had the highest branches roaring in red. A thick gray cloud straddled the sky. The top quarter of the pine was engulfed in flames.

  I released my casting and stumbled back, slightly dizzy. The distance had been a greater effort than I expected. Still, the fire was burning high and there was no missing its smoke. Darren would see it any second.

  I raced over to the stream and then, standing in the shallow shore, cast a cursory brush of wind to displace any dirt I had marked with my steps. The rest of the river was too powerful and too fast to swim. I could feel its undercurrent dragging at my feet.

  Summoning a controlled current of wind, I transported myself to the other side. It took a great effort to carry my weight across. Self-levitation was always costly, but I didn’t trust myself to balance on a log. The river was too dangerous.

  When I reached the other side, I immediately dropped my magic and sprinted into the thick forest beyond. My heart was racing and every breath sounded louder than before. I clawed at blackberry brambles and forced myself to keep on running anywhere with brush so that it would be much harder to track the path I’d taken.

  I WASN’T sure how much time had passed. I was crouched behind a tree, watching, waiting. I had heard shouts for a while now, but none of them had come close to where I knelt hidden. I couldn’t see anything except for a few yards in front of me, but I was confident I wouldn’t be caught off guard. After finding my spot, the first thing I’d done was cast a thick mess of dead leaves in a large radius surrounding me.

  I would hear my attackers before they found me.

  When the shouting got closer, I was able to count eight or nine voices. Relief flooded my chest. I’d been afraid most of the Caltothians would stay behind. My plan had worked.

  Darren is freeing the hostages right now.

  I took a deep breath, and then choked as I breathed in a new scent. Either the Caltothians had Alchemy potions on hand, or they had a Combat mage in their midst. I recognized that foul stench from the mock battle in Devon—it had come with the mentors’ fog. It was the same poisonous vapor that had made me lose control of
my body.

  I had to move. The thick silver fog was spreading fast; any moment it would reach my tree line…

  I made a split second decision to rip off my tunic and wrap it around my face so that my ears and mouth were covered. Then I ran, ringlets of chainmail clanking against my skin now that the tunic was not there to muffle their hiss.

  “There! You see her?”

  Orders called out behind me, but I didn’t dare look. I cast out a giant sphere at my back and sprinted deeper into the forest.

  To my right a tree exploded in flames.

  I ducked right and started to dive and twist among the trees and rock, hoping to lose the party tracking me. But I had no such luck. The shouting drew closer.

  And the castings were multiplying.

  They most definitely had a mage. And from the number of castings so far, they had at least three, if not more. A well-trained war mage couldn’t cast as many attacks as the ones I was avoiding now. Not at once.

  At some point, I came across the same river from earlier. The burning tree was just beyond it, now a towering, spiral of flame.

  My stomach fell. I had to cross. Every other direction, I was surrounded. My pulse raced and I could barely breathe. My vision swam in front of my eyes. I could not maintain the defensive sphere and levitate at the same time.

  My magic was depleting fast.

  I sent a swift plea to the gods and dropped my defense, casting myself into the air. It would only take me twenty seconds to cross.

  But a biting pain tore into my thigh before I had even completed ten. The sudden shock shattered my concentration and my casting fell away.

  And then I fell into the raging stream below as I lost control of my magic. It was too late to attempt another casting—it was impossible to focus. White water swarmed me, and I was thrust under its surface. I spewed liquid as I fought for air, only to be tossed again in the stream’s plunging rapids.

  The river was ice cold, and the sharp pain in my thigh became more intense. Red blood and white waters threw me against the current, beating my body with every river rock along the way. I fought to the surface each time, only to get sucked under and then out. My fingers were rubbed raw from scraping against rocks.

  I couldn’t cast, not with the collision of pain and water choking my lungs. My legs were numb, and it was becoming harder and harder to swim. I couldn’t see anymore. Darkness was grabbing me, pulling me under.

  My arms held on the longest, but eventually those two slowly slipped away…

  All at once, I was conscious of gold. Sunlight streamed down from above, blinding me. I was at the surface. I could breathe.

  There was shouting in the distance. My ears were pounding too heavily to recognize it.

  My entire body ached, and my skin felt like ice.

  I opened my eyes and saw that the raging river had fettered out into a shallow stream down the river’s bank. I had washed ashore. There was a deep gash in my left leg. An arrow had struck it and part of the shaft was still in it.

  But I was still alive.

  “We found the mage girl!”

  “Get her bound and gagged. She might be able to pain cast!”

  I tried to move, stand, anything, but my limbs were still catching up from the cold.

  I tried to cast, but my vision just spun and spun and a sharp pain probed at my head until I was forced to vomit the contents of my breakfast onto the sand beside me.

  I couldn’t escape. I needed to do exactly what the Caltothians feared. I needed to create more pain. I blinked at the shaft in my leg. If I could just roll myself onto my side.

  I shifted just slightly and pain tore into my thigh. I screamed. Magic came rushing out, and I thrust as much of it as I could muster into the band of enemies racing toward me.

  But I missed. My lightning missed its mark.

  And now I didn’t even have pain magic. Not unless I wanted to lose consciousness summoning more.

  Two pairs of hands pinned my arms and legs to the ground. My hands and feet were bound in a matter of seconds, and then an oily cloth was shoved into my mouth as another wrapped it in place.

  A face entered my vision, and I saw the same woman who had killed the knight squinting down at me. Her lip was curled in disgust.

  “Who else is with you?” she demanded. A large wad of saliva landed on the side of my cheek. “Hold up your fingers for the count of your men.”

  I trembled. I would not tell her anything. From Derrick’s past accounts, I knew I was going to die no matter what. Caltothians never kept prisoners. But at least I would not die a traitor.

  The woman slapped me hard across the face. My lip split open from the impact.

  “Tell me and I will let you live.”

  Never. I shook my head and tried to ignore its unwelcome spin.

  “Kinsey, shouldn’t we keep this one?” one of the men probed. “She put up a good fight. If we break her, I bet it would be worth our time. We could use another mage—”

  “You know the orders as well as I do, Wade. No survivors.”

  “Not if we don’t tell them.”

  “Do you really want to take that chance?” Kinsey drawled. “Two times a traitor would only bring a slow and painful death.”

  The woman pulled out a curved dagger. It was the same blade she had used to slit the knight’s throat. She cradled it against the side of my face. “One more chance before I gut you like a fish,” she crooned. Her blade carved a shallow cut across my neck.

  Be brave, Ryiah. I shut my eyes. I would spend my last moments of life envisioning something more pleasant than the ugly face of my enemy.

  What would I see in my last breath, I wondered. Derrick’s laughing face, Alex’s crooked grin, or my parents’ kind smiles?

  Kinsey cackled. “Enjoy the Realm of the Dead.”

  Darren.

  In my last moments, I saw Darren.

  A sharp sting was followed by the withdrawal of pain and the shrill cry of a woman’s scream. I opened my eyes and realized that I was not, in fact, dead. I touched my throat. The blade had only nicked it.

  I was very much alive. Still injured and without most of my magic, but I was alive.

  The woman who’d brandished the knife was not so fortunate. Kinsey lay face down in the sand next to me, dead. A javelin was in her back.

  All around me were panicked screams.

  Sensation returned to my limbs. I propped myself up with my elbows so that I could take in the scene around me. Was it too much to hope? Had someone seen my casting in the keep?

  All around me were great flashes of light and smoke. The heat from the forest fire was growing: the air was sweltering. Any residual cold from my icy bath had faded quickly in its presence.

  The Caltothians guarding me were busy, engaged in a battle of sorts with two others in the clearing ahead. It was hard to make out my rescuers’ faces, but I could tell from the way they fought that they were winning.

  Only three of the Caltothians were mages, and one of them—the woman who had threatened me—was already dead. The enemy soldiers were hiding behind their mages. Only one of them was an archer; the rest carried swords.

  There was another great blast of magic and a storm of knives rained down from the sky. The enemy shrieked and scattered.

  The only two still standing were the Caltothian mages.

  After another great blast of magic, the mages were forced to flee, leaving me behind as they regrouped to the other end of the clearing. As they traded sides, my rescuers drew forward, one leading the way while the other guarded his back.

  I choked back a cry of relief. It was Darren and Eve.

  He’d come back for me.

  The prince set to work on my bonds. “Just couldn’t stay out of trouble, could you, Ryiah?”

  “Mmmph.” The gag was still in my mouth. When it finally came free, I turned to Eve. “How did you find me?”

  “I went looking for the two of you when I saw the lightning. Then I saw the smoke and
found him.” Eve shot out another barrage of weaponry at the enemy mages and checked Darren’s progress. “How are those ropes coming?”

  “Not fast enough,” he said through gritted teeth. “Whoever bound them wanted to make sure she stayed that way.”

  “Well, make it faster.” Eve’s skin—already so pale—was even more so. There were beads of sweat trailing down from her brow to her chin. Her violet eyes were bloodshot, and I could tell from her stance it was costing her a great deal to continue to hold the two mages off with her casting.

  “Got it.” Darren hacked off the last bit of leather rope and then stilled as his gaze caught on something in the trees ahead.

  He cursed and Eve sucked in a sharp breath as she and I looked. “There’s more.”

  “It’s the ones from before.” Darren’s voice had lost its edge. “They must have spotted the smoke.”

  My stomach fell. More Caltothian mages. The barrier Darren and Eve had cast was already faltering. The two mages Eve was holding off were growing confident. A couple more castings would shatter it.

  “I can’t pain cast.” My panic returned in light of our newest discovery. “I’ve already reached my limit.” Not unless I wanted to kill the others and myself in the process.

  “There are three of them.” Eve’s voice was labored from her continuous casting. “Plus the two we’ve already been fighting. We might have been able to take on two, but—”

  “But we don’t have enough magic left to take on all five.” Darren’s statement was void of emotion. “The new three haven’t even touched their magic. They’ll have full reserves.”

  My voice quavered. “Then we don’t fight.”

  “Yes.” A lump rose and fell in the prince’s throat. “Ryiah is right. We need to run.”

  “On my count,” Eve said, “we drop our casting and flee east.”

  I glanced to Darren and saw him pocket the blade Kinsey had dropped.

  “One.”

  What is he doing?

  “Two.”

  He was facing the wrong direction.

  “Three.”